NightshadesSolanaceae
Potatoes.
Cool season
At a glance
The spec sheet.
- Direct sow / out
- Apr 10–20 (early varieties)
- Germ
- 10–20 days from seed potato
- Days to harvest
- 70–120
- Spacing
- 12" apart, rows 24"
- Depth
- 4" trench
- Square-foot
- 1 per square (hilled)
- Qty target
- 5 lbs seed = ~50 lbs harvest = winter's worth.
Plant
Cut seed potatoes into 2-eye chunks 2 days before planting to let cuts scab over. Plant in trenches, cover 2", hill up as they grow.
Care
Hill soil around stems as they emerge — potatoes form on stems above seed. Watch for Colorado potato beetle (hand-pick eggs and adults).
Harvest
New potatoes: 2 weeks after flowering. Storage: after vines die back. Cure 1 week in the dark before storing.
Cool dark storage keeps 3–6 months. Also: mashed & frozen, dehydrated flakes.
Companion planting
What potatoes likes, and doesn’t.
Good neighbors
- Bush beans
- Celery
- Corn
- Garlic
- Horseradish
- Marigolds
- Onions
- Peas
- Alyssum
- Cilantro/coriander (repels potato beetles)
- Asparagus
- Brassicas
- Carrots
- Cucumber
- Kohlrabi
- Melons
- Parsnips
- Raspberries
- Rutabaga
- Squash
- Sunflowers
- Tomatoes (shared blight — never same bed)